ABBESS, or LADY ABBESS, A bawd, the mistress of a
brothel.
ABEL-WACKETS. Blows given on the palm of the hand
with a twisted handkerchief, instead of a ferula; a jocular
punishment among seamen, who sometimes play at cards
for wackets, the loser suffering as many strokes as he has
lost games.
ABIGAIL. A lady's waiting-maid.
ABRAM. Naked. CANT.
ABRAM COVE. A cant word among thieves, signifying a
naked or poor man; also a lusty, strong rogue.
ABRAM MEN. Pretended mad men.
TO SHAM ABRAM. To pretend sickness.
ACADEMY, or PUSHING SCHOOL. A brothel. The Floating
Academy; the lighters on board of which those persons
are confined, who by a late regulation are condemned to
hard labour, instead of transportation.--Campbell's
Academy; the same, from a gentleman of that name, who had
the contract for victualling the hulks or lighters.
ACE OF SPADES. A widow.
ACCOUNTS. To cast up one's accounts; to vomit.
ACORN. You will ride a horse foaled by an acorn, i.e. the
gallows, called also the Wooden and Three-legged Mare.
You will be hanged.--See THREE-LEGGED MARE.
ACT OF PARLIAMENT. A military term for small beer, five
pints of which, by an act of parliament, a landlord was
formerly obliged to give to each soldier gratis.
ACTEON. A cuckold, from the horns planted on the head
of Acteon by Diana.
ACTIVE CITIZEN. A louse.
ADAM'S ALE. Water.
ADAM TILER. A pickpocket's associate, who receives the
stolen goods, and runs off with them. CANT.
ADDLE PATE. An inconsiderate foolish fellow.
ADDLE PLOT. A spoil-sport, a mar-all.
ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE, who carries his flag on the main-mast.
A landlord or publican wearing a blue apron, as
was formerly the custom among gentlemen of that vocation.
ADMIRAL OF THE NARROW SEAS. One who from drunkenness
vomits into the lap of the person sitting opposite to
him. SEA PHRASE.
ADRIFT. Loose, turned adrift, discharged. SEA PHRASE.
AEGROTAT, (CAMBRIDGE), A certificate from the apothecary
that you are INDISPOSED, (i. e.) to go to chapel. He
sports an Aegrotat, he is sick, and unable to attend Chapel.
or Hall. It does not follow, however, but that he can STRUM
A PIECE, or sport a pair of oars.
AFFIDAVIT MEN. Knights of the post, or false witnesses,
said to attend Westminster Hall, and other courts of
justice, ready to swear any thing for hire.
AFTER-CLAP. A demand after the first given in has been
discharged; a charge for pretended omissions; in short,
any thing disagreeable happening after all consequences of
the cause have been thought at an end.
AGAINST THE GRAIN. Unwilling. It went much against
the grain with him, i.e. it was much against his
inclination, or against his pluck.
AGOG, ALL-A-GOG. Anxious, eager, impatient: from the
Italian AGOGARE, to desire eagerly.
AGROUND. Stuck fast, stopped, at a loss, ruined; like a
boat or vessel aground.
AIR AND EXERCISE. He has had air and exercise, i.e. he
has been whipped at the cart's tail; or, as it is generally,
though more vulgarly, expressed, at the cart's a-se.
ALDERMAN. A roasted turkey garnished with sausages;
the latter are supposed to represent the gold chain worn
by those magistrates.
ALDGATE. A draught on the pump at Aldgate; a bad bill
of exchange, drawn on persons who have no effects of the
drawer.
ALE DRAPER. An alehouse keeper.
ALE POST. A may-pole.
ALL-A-MORT. Struck dumb, confounded. What, sweet
one, all-a-mort? SHAKESPEARE.
ALL HOLIDAY. It is all holiday at Peckham, or it is all holiday
with him; a saying signifying that it is all over
with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.
ALL HOLLOW. He was beat all hollow, i.e. he had no
chance of conquering: it was all hollow, or a hollow thing,
it was a decided thing from the beginning. See HOLLOW.
ALL NATIONS. A composition of all the different spirits
sold in a dram-shop, collected in a vessel into which
the drainings of the bottles and quartern pots are emptied.
ALLS. The five alls is a country sign, representing five human
figures, each having a motto under him. The first
is a king in his regalia; his motto, I govern all: the second,
a bishop in pontificals; motto, I pray for all: third,
a lawyer in his gown; motto, I plead for all: fourth: a
soldier in his regimentals, fully accoutred; motto, I
fight for all: fifth, a poor countryman with his scythe
and rake; motto, I pay for all.
ALTAMEL. A verbal or lump account, without particulars,
such as is commonly produced at bawdy-houses,
spunging-houses, &c. Vide DUTCH RECKONING.
ALTITUDES. The man is in his altitudes, i.e. he is drunk.
AMBASSADOR. A trick to duck some ignorant fellow or
landsman, frequently played on board ships in the warm
latitudes. It is thus managed: A large tub is filled with
water, and two stools placed on each side of it. Over
the whole is thrown a tarpaulin, or old sail: this is
kept tight by two persons, who are to represent the king
and queen of a foreign country, and are seated on the
stools. The person intended to be ducked plays the Ambassador,
and after repeating a ridiculous speech dictated
to him, is led in great form up to the throne, and seated
between the king and queen, who rising suddenly as soon
as he is seated, he falls backwards into the tub of water.
AMBASSADOR OF MOROCCO. A Shoemaker. (See Mrs.
Clarke's Examination.)
AMBIDEXTER. A lawyer who takes fees from both plaintiff
and defendant, or that goes snacks with both parties
in gaming.
AMEN CURLER. A parish clerk.
AMEN. He said Yes and Amen to every thing; he agreed to
every thing.
AMINADAB. A jeering name for a Quaker.
AMES ACE. Within ames ace; nearly, very near.
TO AMUSE. To fling dust or snuff in the eyes of the person
intended to be robbed; also to invent some plausible tale,
to delude shop-keepers and others, thereby to put them
off their guard. CANT.
AMUSERS. Rogues who carried snuff or dust in their pockets,
which they threw into the eyes of any person they
intended to rob; and running away, their accomplices
(pretending to assist and pity the half-blinded person)
took that opportunity of plundering him.
ANABAPTIST. A pickpocket caught in the fact, and punished
with the discipline of the pump or horse-pond.
ANCHOR. Bring your a-se to an anchor, i.e. sit down. To let
go an anchor to the windward of the law; to keep within
the letter of the law. SEA WIT.
ANGLERS. Pilferers, or petty thieves, who, with a stick
having a hook at the end, steal goods out of shop-windows,
grates, &c.; also those who draw in or entice unwary persons
to prick at the belt, or such like devices.
ANGLING FOR FARTHINGS. Begging out of a prison window
with a cap, or box, let down at the end of a long
string.
ANKLE. A girl who is got with child, is said to have sprained
her ankle.
ANODYNE NECKLACE. A halter.
ANTHONY or TANTONY PIG. The favourite or smallest pig
in the litter.--To follow like a tantony pig, i.e. St.
Anthony's pig; to follow close at one's heels. St. Anthony
the hermit was a swineherd, and is always represented
with a swine's bell and a pig. Some derive this saying
from a privilege enjoyed by the friars of certain convents
in England and France (sons of St. Anthony), whose swine
were permitted to feed in the streets. These swine would
follow any one having greens or other provisions, till they
obtained some of them; and it was in those days considered
an act of charity and religion to feed them.
TO KNOCK ANTHONY. Said of an in-kneed person, or one
whose knees knock together; to cuff Jonas. See JONAS.
APE LEADER. An old maid; their punishment after
death, for neglecting increase and multiply, will be, it is
said, leading apes in hell.
APOSTLES. To manoeuvre the apostles, i.e. rob Peter to
pay Paul; that is, to borrow money of one man to pay
another.
APOSTLES. (CAMBRIDGE.) Men who are plucked, refused
their degree.
APOTHECARY. To talk like an apothecary; to use hard or
gallipot words: from the assumed gravity and affectation
of knowledge generally put on by the gentlemen of this
profession, who are commonly as superficial in their
learning as they are pedantic in their language.
APOTHECARY'S BILL. A long bill.
APOTHECARY'S, or LAW LATIN. Barbarous Latin, vulgarly
called Dog Latin, in Ireland Bog Latin.
APPLE CART. Down with his apple-cart; knock or throw
him down.
APPLE DUMPLIN SHOP. A woman's bosom.
APPLE-PYE BED. A bed made apple-pye fashion, like what
is called a turnover apple-pye, where the sheets are so
doubled as to prevent any one from getting at his length
between them: a common trick played by frolicsome
country lasses on their sweethearts, male relations, or
visitors.
APRIL FOOL. Any one imposed on, or sent on a bootless
errand, on the first of April; which day it is the custom
among the lower people, children, and servants, by dropping
empty papers carefully doubled up, sending persons
on absurd messages, and such like contrivances, to impose
on every one they can, and then to salute them with
the title of April Fool. This is also practised in
Scotland under the title of Hunting the Gowke.
APRON STRING HOLD. An estate held by a man during
his wife's life.
AQUA PUMPAGINIS. Pump water. APOTHECARIES LATIN.
ARBOR VITAE. A man's penis.
ARCH DUKE. A comical or eccentric fellow.
ARCH ROGUE, DIMBER DAMBER UPRIGHT MAN. The
chief of a gang of thieves or gypsies.
ARCH DELL, or ARCH DOXY, signifies the same in rank
among the female canters or gypsies.
ARD. Hot. CANT.
ARMOUR. In his armour, pot valiant: to fight in armour;
to make use of Mrs. Philips's ware. See C--D--M.
ARK. A boat or wherry. Let us take an ark and winns, let
us take a sculler. CANT.
ARK RUFFIANS. Rogues who, in conjunction with watermen,
robbed, and sometimes murdered, on the water, by
picking a quarrel with the passengers in a boat, boarding
it, plundering, stripping, and throwing them overboard, &c.
A species of badger. CANT.
ARRAH NOW. An unmeaning expletive, frequently used by
the vulgar Irish.
ARS MUSICA. A bum fiddle.
ARSE. To hang an arse; to hang back, to be afraid to
advance. He would lend his a-e and sh-te through his ribs;
a saying of any one who lends his money inconsiderately.
He would lose his a-e if it was loose; said of a careless
person. A-e about; turn round.
ARSY YARSEY. To fall arsy varsey, i.e. head over heels.
ARTHUR, KING ARTHUR, A game used at sea, when near
the line, or in a hot latitude. It is performed thus: A man
who is to represent king Arthur, ridiculously dressed,
having a large wig made out of oakum, or some old swabs, is
seated on the side, or over a large vessel of water. Every
person in his turn is to be ceremoniously introduced to
him, and to pour a bucket of water over him, crying,
hail, king Arthur! if during this ceremony the person
introduced laughs or smiles (to which his majesty endeavours
to excite him, by all sorts of ridiculous gesticulations), he
changes place with, and then becomes, king Arthur, till
relieved by some brother tar, who has as little command
over his muscles as himself.
ARTICLES. Breeches; coat, waistcoat, and articles.
ARTICLE. A wench. A prime article. A handsome girl.
She's a prime article (WHIP SLANG), she's a devilish good
piece, a hell of a GOER.
ASK, or AX MY A-E. A common reply to any question;
still deemed wit at sea, and formerly at court, under the
denomination of selling bargains. See BARGAIN.
ASSIG. An assignation.
ATHANASIAN WENCH, or QUICUNQUE VULT. A forward
girl, ready to oblige every man that shall ask her.
AUNT. Mine aunt; a bawd or procuress: a title of eminence
for the senior dells, who serve for instructresses, midwives,
&c. for the dells. CANT. See DELLS.
AVOIR DU POIS LAY. Stealing brass weights off the counters
of shops. CANT.
AUTEM. A church.
AUTEM BAWLER. A parson. CANT.
AUTEM CACKLERS, AUTEM PRICKEARS. Dissenters of every
denomination. CANT.
AUTEM CACKLETUB. A conventicle or meeting-house for
dissenters. CANT.
AUTEM DIPPERS. Anabaptists. CANT.
AUTEM DIVERS. Pickpockets who practice in churches;
also churchwardens and overseers of the poor. CANT.
AUTEM GOGLERS. Pretended French prophets. CANT.
AUTEM MORT. A married woman; also a female beggar
with several children hired or borrowed to excite charity.
CANT.
AUTEM QUAVERS. Quakers.
AUTEM QUAVER TUB. A Quakers' meeting-house. CANT.
AWAKE. Acquainted with, knowing the business. Stow the
books, the culls are awake; hide the cards, the fellows
know what we intended to do.
BABES IN THE WOOD. Criminals in the stocks, or pillory.
BABBLE. Confused, unintelligible talk, such as was used at
the building the tower of Babel.
BACK BITER. One who slanders another behind his back,
i.e. in his absence. His bosom friends are become his back
biters, said of a lousy man.
BACKED. Dead. He wishes to have the senior, or old
square-toes, backed; he longs to have his father on six
men's shoulders; that is, carrying to the grave.
BACK UP. His back is up, i.e. he is offended or angry; an
expression or idea taken from a cat; that animal, when
angry, always raising its back. An allusion also sometimes
used to jeer a crooked man; as, So, Sir, I see somebody
has offended you, for your back is up.
BACON. He has saved his bacon; he has escaped. He has a
good voice to beg bacon; a saying in ridicule of a bad voice.
BACON-FACED. Full-faced.
BACON FED. Fat, greasy.
BACK GAMMON PLAYER. A sodomite.
BACK DOOR (USHER, or GENTLEMAN OF THE). The same.
BAD BARGAIN. One of his majesty's bad bargains; a
worthless soldier, a malingeror. See MALINGEROR.
BADGE. A term used for one burned in the hand. He has got
his badge, and piked; he was burned in the hand, and is
at liberty. Cant.
BADGE-COVES. Parish Pensioners. Cant.
BADGERS. A crew of desperate villains who robbed near
rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they
murdered. Cant.
BAG. He gave them the bag, i.e. left them.
BAG OF NAILS. He squints like a bag of nails; i. e.
his eyes are directed as many ways as the points of a bag
of nails. The old BAG OF NAILS at Pimlico; originally
the BACCHANALS.
BAGGAGE. Heavy baggage; women and children. Also a
familiar epithet for a woman; as, cunning baggage,
wanton baggage, &c.
BAKERS DOZEN. Fourteen; that number of rolls being allowed
to the purchasers of a dozen.
BAKER-KNEE'D. One whose knees knock together in
walking, as if kneading dough.
BALDERDASH. Adulterated wine.
BALLOCKS. The testicles of a man or beast; also a vulgar
nick name for a parson. His brains are in his ballocks,
a cant saying to designate a fool.
BALUM RANCUM. A hop or dance, where the women are
all prostitutes. N. B. The company dance in their
birthday suits.
BALSAM. Money.
BAM. A jocular imposition, the same as a humbug. See
HUMBUG.
TO BAM. To impose on any one by a falsity; also to
jeer or make fun of any one.
TO BAMBOOZLE. To make a fool of any one, to humbug or
impose on him.
BANAGHAN. He beats Banaghan; an Irish saying of one
who tells wonderful stories. Perhaps Banaghan was a
minstrel famous for dealing in the marvellous.
BANDBOX. Mine a-se on a bandbox; an answer to the
offer of any thing inadequate to the purpose for which
it is proffered, like offering a bandbox for a seat.
BANBURY STORY OF A COCK AND A BULL. A roundabout,
nonsensical story.
BANDOG. A bailiff or his follower; also a very fierce
mastiff: likewise, a bandbox. CANT.
BANG UP. (WHIP.) Quite the thing, hellish fine. Well
done. Compleat. Dashing. In a handsome stile.
A bang up cove; a dashing fellow who spends his money
freely. To bang up prime: to bring your horses up in a
dashing or fine style: as the swell's rattler and prads are
bang up prime; the gentleman sports an elegant carriage
and fine horses.
TO BANG. To beat.
BANGING. Great; a fine banging boy.
BANG STRAW. A nick name for a thresher, but applied
to all the servants of a farmer.
BANKRUPT CART. A one-horse chaise, said to be so
called by a Lord Chief Justice, from their being so
frequently used on Sunday jaunts by extravagant
shop-keepers and tradesmen.
BANKS'S HORSE. A horse famous for playing tricks, the
property of one Banks. It is mentioned in Sir Walter
Raleigh's Hist. of the World, p. 178; also by Sir
Kenelm Digby and Ben Jonson.
BANTLING. A young child.
BANYAN DAY. A sea term for those days on which no
meat is allowed to the sailors: the term is borrowed
from the Banyans in the East Indies, a cast that eat
nothing that had life.
BAPTIZED, OR CHRISTENED. Rum, brandy, or any other
spirits, that have been lowered with water.
BARBER'S CHAIR. She is as common as a barber's chair, in
which a whole parish sit to be trimmed; said of a prostitute.
BARBER'S SIGN. A standing pole and two wash balls.
BARGAIN. To sell a bargain; a species of wit, much in
vogue about the latter end of the reign of Queen Anne,
and frequently alluded to by Dean Swift, who says the
maids of honour often amused themselves with it. It
consisted in the seller naming his or her hinder parts, in
answer to the question, What? which the buyer was
artfully led to ask. As a specimen, take the following
instance: A lady would come into a room full of company,
apparently in a fright, crying out, It is white, and follows
me! On any of the company asking, What? she sold
him the bargain, by saying, Mine a-e.
BARGEES. (CAMBRIDGE.) Barge-men on the river.
BARKER. The shopman of a bow-wow shop, or dealer in
second hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth-Street,
who walks before his master's door, and deafens every
passenger with his cries of--Clothes, coats, or gowns--what
d'ye want, gemmen?--what d'ye buy? See BOW-WOW SHOP.
BARKSHIRE. A member or candidate for Barkshire, said of
one troubled with a cough, vulgarly styled barking.
BARKING IRONS. Pistols, from their explosion resembling
the bow-wow or barking of a dog. IRISH.
BARN. A parson's barn; never so full but there is still room,
for more. Bit by a barn mouse, tipsey, probably from an
allusion to barley.
BARNABY. An old dance to a quick movement. See Cotton,
in his Virgil Travesti; where, speaking of Eolus he has
these lines,
Bounce cry the port-holes, out they fly,
And make the world dance Barnaby.
BARNACLE. A good job, or snack easily got: also shellfish
growing at the bottoms of ships; a bird of the goose
kind; an instrument like a pair of pincers, to fix on the
noses of vicious horses whilst shoeing; a nick name for
spectacles, and also for the gratuity given to grooms by the
buyers and sellers of horses.
BARREL FEVER. He died of the barrel fever; he killed
himself by drinking.
BARROW MAN. A man under sentence of transportation;
alluding to the convicts at Woolwich, who are principally
employed in wheeling barrows full of brick or dirt.
BARTHOLOMEW BABY. A person dressed up in a tawdry
manner, like the dolls or babies sold at Bartholomew fair.
BASKET. An exclamation frequently made use of in cock-pits,
at cock-fightings, where persons refusing or unable
to pay their losings, are adjudged by that respectable
assembly to be put into a basket suspended over the pit, there
to remain during that day's diversion: on the least demur
to pay a bet, Basket is vociferated in terrorem. He grins
like a basket of chips: a saying of one who is on the broad
grin.
BASKET-MAKING. The good old trade of basket-making;
copulation, or making feet for children's stockings.
BASTARD. The child of an unmarried woman.
BASTARDLY GULLION. A bastard's bastard.
TO BASTE. To beat. I'll give him his bastings, I'll beat
him heartily.
BASTING. A beating.
BASTONADING. Beating any one with a stick; from baton,
a stick, formerly spelt baston.
BAT. A low whore: so called from moving out like bats in
the dusk of the evening.
BATCH. We had a pretty batch of it last night; we had a
hearty dose of liquor. Batch originally means the whole
quantity of bread baked at one time in an oven.
BATTNER. An ox: beef being apt to batten or fatten those
that eat it. The cove has hushed the battner; i.e. has
killed the ox.
BATCHELOR'S FARE. Bread and cheese and kisses.
BATCHELOR'S SON. A bastard.
BATTLE-ROYAL. A battle or bout at cudgels or fisty-cuffs,
wherein more than two persons are engaged: perhaps from
its resemblance, in that particular, to more serious
engagements fought to settle royal disputes.
BAWBEE. A halfpenny. Scotch.
BAWBELS, or BAWBLES. Trinkets; a man's testicles.
BAWD. A female procuress.
BAWDY BASKET. The twenty-third rank of canters, who
carry pins, tape, ballads, and obscene books to sell, but live
mostly by stealing. Cant.
BAWDY-HOUSE BOTTLE. A very small bottle; short measure
being among the many means used by the keepers of those
houses, to gain what they call an honest livelihood: indeed
this is one of the least reprehensible; the less they give a
man of their infernal beverages for his money, the kinder
they behave to him.
BAY FEVER. A term of ridicule applied to convicts, who
sham illness, to avoid being sent to Botany Bay.
BAYARD OF TEN TOES. To ride bayard of ten toes, is to
walk on foot. Bayard was a horse famous in old romances,
BEAK. A justice of-peace, or magistrate. Also a judge or
chairman who presides in court. I clapp'd my peepers
full of tears, and so the old beak set me free; I began to
weep, and the judge set me free.
BEAN. A guinea. Half bean; half a guinea.
BEAR. One who contracts to deliver a certain quantity of
sum of stock in the public funds, on a future day, and at
stated price; or, in other words, sells what he has not got,
like the huntsman in the fable, who sold the bear's skin
before the bear was killed. As the bear sells the stock he
is not possessed of, so the bull purchases what he has not
money to pay for; but in case of any alteration in the price
agreed on, either party pays or receives the difference.
Exchange Alley.
BEAR-GARDEN JAW or DISCOURSE. Rude, vulgar language,
such as was used at the bear-gardens.
BEAR LEADER. A travelling tutor.
BEARD SPLITTER. A man much given to wenching.
BEARINGS. I'll bring him to his bearings; I'll bring him to
reason. Sea term.
BEAST. To drink like a beast, i.e. only when thirsty.
BEAST WITH TWO BACKS. A man and woman in the act of
copulation. Shakespeare in Othello.
BEATER CASES. Boots. Cant.
BEAU-NASTY. A slovenly fop; one finely dressed, but dirty.
BEAU TRAP. A loose stone in a pavement, under which
water lodges, and on being trod upon, squirts it up, to the
great damage of white stockings; also a sharper neatly
dressed, lying in wait for raw country squires, or ignorant
fops.
BECALMED. A piece of sea wit, sported in hot weather. I
am becalmed, the sail sticks to the mast; that is, my shirt
sticks to my back. His prad is becalmed; his horse knocked up.
BECK. A beadle. See HERMANBECK.
BED. Put to bed with a mattock, and tucked up with a
spade; said of one that is dead and buried. You will go up
a ladder to bed, i.e. you will be hanged. In many country
places, persons hanged are made to mount up a ladder,
which is afterwards turned round or taken away, whence the
term, "Turned off."
BEDFORDSHIRE. I am for Bedfordshire, i.e. for going to bed.
BEDIZENED. Dressed out, over-dressed, or awkwardly ornamented.
BED-MAKER. Women employed at Cambridge to attend
on the Students, sweep his room, &c. They will put their
hands to any thing, and are generally blest with a pretty
family of daughters: who unmake the beds, as fast as they
are made by their mothers.
BEEF. To cry beef; to give the alarm. They have cried beef
on us. Cant.--To be in a man's beef; to wound him with
a sword. To be in a woman's beef; to have carnal
knowledge of her. Say you bought your beef of me, a jocular
request from a butcher to a fat man, implying that he
credits the butcher who serves him.
BEEF EATER. A yeoman of the guards, instituted by Henry
VII. Their office was to stand near the bouffet, or
cupboard, thence called Bouffetiers, since corrupted to Beef
Eaters. Others suppose they obtained this name from the
size of their persons, and the easiness of their duty, as
having scarce more to do than to eat the king's beef.
BEETLE-BROWED. One having thick projecting eyebrows.
BEETLE-HEADED. Dull, stupid.
BEGGAR MAKER. A publican, or ale-house keeper.
BEGGAR'S BULLETS. Stones. The beggar's bullets began
to fly, i.e. they began to throw stones.
BEILBY'S BALL. He will dance at Beilby's ball, where the
sheriff pays the music; he will be hanged. Who Mr.
Beilby was, or why that ceremony was so called, remains
with the quadrature of the circle, the discovery of the
philosopher's stone, and divers other desiderata yet
undiscovered.
BELCH. All sorts of beer; that liquor being apt to cause
eructation.
BELCHER. A red silk handkerchief, intermixed with yellow
and a little black. The kiddey flashes his belcher; the
young fellow wears a silk handkerchief round his neck.
BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE. They cursed him with bell,
book, and candle; an allusion to the popish form of
excommunicating and anathematizing persons who had
offended the church.
TO BEAR THE BELL. To excel or surpass all competitors, to
be the principal in a body or society; an allusion to the
fore horse or leader of a team, whose harness is commonly
ornamented with a bell or bells. Some suppose it a term
borrowed from an ancient tournament, where the victorious
knights bore away the BELLE or FAIR LADY. Others derive
it from a horse-race, or other rural contentions, where bells
were frequently given as prizes.
BELLOWS. The lungs.
BELLOWER. The town crier.
BELLOWSER. Transportation for life: i.e. as long.
BELLY. His eye was bigger than his belly; a saying of a
person at a table, who takes more on his plate than he
can eat.
BELLYFULL. A hearty beating, sufficient to make a man
yield or give out. A woman with child is also said to
have got her belly full.
BELLY CHEAT. An apron.
BELLY PLEA. The plea of pregnancy, generally adduced by
female felons capitally convicted, which they take care to
provide for, previous to their trials; every gaol having, as
the Beggar's Opera informs us, one or more child getters,
who qualify the ladies for that expedient to procure a respite.
BELLY TIMBER. Food of all sorts.
BELL SWAGGER. A noisy bullying fellow.
BELLWETHER. The chief or leader of a mob; an idea
taken from a flock of sheep, where the wether has a bell
about his neck.
BENE. Good--BENAR. Better. Cant.
BENE BOWSE. Good beer, or other strong liquor. Cant.
BENE COVE. A good fellow. Cant.
BENE DARKMANS. Goodnight. Cant.
BENE FEARERS. Counterfeiters of bills. Cant.
BENE FEAKERS OF GYBES. Counterfeiters of passes. Cant.
BENESHIPLY. Worshipfully. Cant.
BEN. A fool. Cant.
BENISH. Foolish.
BENISON. The beggar's benison: May your ***** and
purse never fail you.
BERMUDAS. A cant name for certain places in London,
privileged against arrests, like the Mint in Southwark,
Ben. Jonson. These privileges are abolished.
BESS, or BETTY. A small instrument used by house-breakers
to force open doors. Bring bess and glym; bring the
instrument to force the door, and the dark lantern. Small
flasks, like those for Florence wine, are also called betties.
BESS. See BROWN BESS.
BEST. To the best in Christendom: i.e. the best **** in
Christendom; a health formerly much in vogue.
BET. A wager.--TO BET. To lay a wager.
BETTY MARTIN. That's my eye, Betty Martin; an answer
to any one that attempts to impose or humbug.
BETWATTLED. Surprised, confounded, out of one's senses;
also bewrayed.
BEVER. An afternoon's luncheon; also a fine hat; beaver's
fur making the best hats,
BEVERAGE. Garnish money, or money for drink, demanded
of any one having a new suit of clothes.
BIBLE. A boatswain's great axe. Sea term.
BIBLE OATH. Supposed by the vulgar to be more binding
than an oath taken on the Testament only, as being the
bigger book, and generally containing both the Old and New
Testament.
BIDDY, or CHICK-A-BIDDY. A chicken, and figuratively
a young wench.
BIDET, commonly pronounced BIDDY. A kind of tub, contrived
for ladies to wash themselves, for which purpose they
bestride it like a French poney, or post-horse, called in
French bidets.
BIENLY. Excellently. She wheedled so bienly; she coaxed
or flattered so cleverly. French.
BILL AT SIGHT. To pay a bill at sight; to be ready at all
times for the venereal act.
BILBOA. A sword. Bilboa in Spain was once famous for
well-tempered blades: these are quoted by Falstaff, where
he describes the manner in which he lay in the buck-basket.
Bilboes, the stock; prison. Cant.
TO BILK. To cheat. Let us bilk the rattling cove; let us
cheat the hackney coachman of his fare. Cant. Bilking a
coachman, a box-keeper, and a poor whore, were formerly,
among men of the town, thought gallant actions.
BILL OF SALE. A widow's weeds. See HOUSE TO LET.
BILLINGSGATE LANGUAGE. Foul language, or abuse. Billingsgate is
the market where the fishwomen assemble to
purchase fish; and where, in their dealings and disputes,
they are somewhat apt to leave decency and good manners
a little on the left hand.
BING. To go. Cant. Bing avast; get you gone. Binged
avast in a darkmans; stole away in the night. Bing we to
Rumeville: shall we go to London?
BINGO. Brandy or other spirituous liquor. Cant.
BINGO BOY. A dram drinker. Cant.
BINGO MORT. A female dram drinker. Cant.
BINNACLE WORD. A fine or affected word, which sailors
jeeringly offer to chalk up on the binnacle.
BIRD AND BABY. The sign of the eagle and child.
BIRD-WITTED. Inconsiderate, thoughtless, easily imposed
on.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER. Rogues of the same gang.
BIRTH-DAY SUIT. He was in his birth-day suit, that is,
stark naked.
BISHOP. A mixture of wine and water, into which is put a
roasted orange. Also one of the largest of Mrs. Philips's
purses, used to contain the others.
BISHOPED, or TO BISHOP. A term used among horse-dealers, for
burning the mark into a horse's tooth, after he has
lost it by age; by bishoping, a horse is made to appear
younger than he is. It is a common saying of milk that is
burnt too, that the bishop has set his foot in it. Formerly,
when a bishop passed through a village, all the inhabitants
ran out of their houses to solicit his blessing, even leaving
their milk, &c. on the fire, to take its chance: which, went
burnt to, was said to be bishoped.
TO BISHOP the balls, a term used among printers, to water
them.
BIT. Money. He grappled the cull's bit; he seized the
man's money. A bit is also the smallest coin in Jamaica,
equal to about sixpence sterling.
BITCH. A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation
that can be given to an English woman, even more
provoking than that of whore, as may he gathered from the
regular Billinsgate or St. Giles's answer--"I may be a
whore, but can't be a bitch."
TO BITCH. To yield, or give up an attempt through fear.
To stand bitch; to make tea, or do the honours of the
tea-table, performing a female part: bitch there standing for
woman, species for genius.
BITCH BOOBY. A country wench. Military term.
BITE. A cheat; also a woman's privities. The cull wapt
the mort's bite; the fellow enjoyed the wench heartily.
Cant.
TO BITE. To over-reach, or impose; also to steal.--Cant.--Biting
was once esteemed a kind of wit, similar to the
humbug. An instance of it is given in the Spectator: A
man under sentence of death having sold his body to a surgeon
rather below the market price, on receiving the money, cried, A
bite! I am to be hanged in chains.--To bite
the roger; to steal a portmanteau. To bite the wiper, to
steal a handkerchief. To bite on the bridle; to be pinched
or reduced to difficulties. Hark ye, friend, whether do
they bite in the collar or the cod-piece? Water wit to
anglers.
BITER. A wench whose **** is ready to bite her a-se; a
lascivious, rampant wench.